Hey!... being depressed now is a lot better than being depressed later after burning through a ton of cash. And, you are asking questions now, which is a good way to start to get enough information to make a rational decision.Leix wrote:Ouch, This is depressing. I'm not sure how to carry the conversation from here. I suppose a defensive statement. I do apologize.
I really want to get this going and I guess what I was looking for is a reassuring pat on the back from somebody experienced like yourself. A false hope? hmm. I suppose the cold truth is better and I appreciate it.
You should definitely become familiar with all the nuts and bolts of running a business before proceeding. There is a wealth of information available. But, that's not your biggest "flaw". It's that you don't understand the business that you think you want to get into.Having no experience about the bureaucracy of running a company is probably my biggest flaw here. It seems like there are a lot more forms than I originally thought. But is it not possible to learn this on the go? Surely there is a list of forms somewhere that are required and some set of instructions on how to fill it out.
I don't know about this specialty... and... I offer two items for consideration. First, I have a friend in the 3D animated graphics business... he also does other types of graphics work as well. He has seen his business shrink year after year as the industry consolidates. Further, he notes that for most business verticals, good graphics is a hard sell... unlike the USA and EU most local companies are decades behind in advertising and marketing.My plan is to enter the architectural visualization market in Singapore (hush hush). It is not a very big market, but there are not very much companies providing these services locally either. Plus, I think there are some room for improvements.
Unfortunately, simply building a better mousetrap isn't going to have people flocking to your door. Putting up high quality and cheap prices is not going to create the draw you hope. The fact is that professional services are sold on a relationship basis. You will have to displace someone else who has had a working relationship with the client you want to win. I would have never started my business except for the fact that my business partner had an extensive address book of contacts in our industry, which gave us people to visit, as well as generating referral business. So... are you ready to develop a marketing plan, and are you ready to get out and sell?Not getting clients is a scary thought that have crossed my mind countless times. My naive thoughts about this is that If I can provide a better product for a competitive cost, they would simply come. Of course this is a technical challenge and one that I would love to take on. How to produce a better product. This is practically the point that I am banking on.
It's not about your nationality, it's about your connections into the business community. You are an outsider. Chinese people are very conservative in their social and business networks. There needs to be a very good reason to let you into the network instead of choosing someone that is already there.Plus, are people that prejudiced that they would research on who is running a company to check their nationality and only make deals with locals. Anyway, I am practically local. I speak fluent "Singlish". My close friends are locals. I plan to recruit the local talents as well who, coincidentally, are my friends (which could be a bad idea). The only thing not local about me are on paper.
My only strategy here is to provide a better product at a competitive price and cold calling MNCs in hopes that they will give me a chance. Is this a realistic plan or an "inside guy" is always needed?
Toothless unions in Singapore. Things are going to get worse. With the clamp down on "foreign talent" work passes, two things are happening. Small businesses are being denied the talents they need to provide support functions for MNC's. And second, with the attempt to drive up salaries for Singaporeans, lots of companies see the handwriting on the wall and are looking for other locations.All you said about computer graphics is spot on. They are moving to cheaper labour countries and places with subsidies (Singapore!). The part about nitpicking the product under the same nickel made me laughed out. Heheh. I am aware of all these problems and having the balls to say no will probably lose you clients. I think there are no way around this and it all boils down on your pipeline and how well and cheaply can you reiterate your product without making a loss. This is a bad business model but one has to adapt. Unless a trade union is formed?
Although Singapore constantly talks about moving up the production chain... from actual production to design and implementation, it seems clear that the Entrepass people didn't get this message. The rules are clearly oriented towards manufacturers, with the expectation that there will be factory space and hired workers to produce a product that is probably going to be exported.Yeah, The EntrePass does look like it is meant for business people that plan to raise funds through VCs and hire a load of local talents. There is even a page dedicated to filling out your business track record. Urgh. I hope they are more lenient on this.
Again, not coming from a business background, I fail to see the point of a financial projection. However, I do have one drawn out and that exercise just proves to be futile. Every number that I put down are purely speculative. I am probably just ignorant on this subject. Perhaps you can enlighten me on how this is important.
1) No have no idea whether your assumption is correct. What market research will you perform to verify this assumption... because.... it's a big one.The idea and assumptions about the venture that I have in my head is this;
1) There is a market for ArchViz locally.
2) There is not very many companies that provides this service (locally). In fact, they are going to China for cheaper production.
3) There is room for improvements on the service provided (regionally). It is still far from what European and American companies are providing.
4) If I can bridge that gap in quality locally, the market will respond well.
5) The fundamentals of creating ArchViz is the same as any other CGI. An expansion into broadcast media is totally plausible.
Am I totally off the ballpark here?
Business is not about enemies. Business is about identifying a market niche and supplying goods or services to fill that need, AT A PROFIT.In essense,
I am betting on myself to be able to gather and lead a team to produce a better product to enter an existing market. Bureaucracy is my biggest enemy.
@taxico
It wouldn't have mattered. I left the country for three years and any PR status I cloud have gotten will be nullified. No use beating on the past, as the people say, "the rice has turn to porridge" or something.
Anyway, the US is even worse as AFAIK, they don't have any scheme that looks like the "EntrePass" at all. I recently read that some congressman is drafting a bill to introduce something of this nature though. Won't be done in 2-3 years time.
beanman2112 wrote:Singapore company laws allow a foreigner to own 100% of a Singapore company. Therefore from a company ownership point of view, you do not require a local partner. However, every Singapore company is required to have at least one local director.
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